Saturday, July 2, 2011

To be "humble of heart", The 12 degrees of humility according to St. Benedict and St. Thomas Aquinas

14th Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Matthew 11:25-30

Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.

Fr.
Cornelius a’ Lapide cites the words of St. Augustine on this verse: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me,
not to frame a world, not to create all things, visible and invisible, not to
do miracles in the world and to raise the dead; but that I am meek and lowly in
heart. Dost thou wish to be great, begin from the least. Thou art thinking of
constructing a mighty fabric of loftiness, think first of the foundation of
humility. And as great as each one wishes to build up his edifice, the greater
the building, so much the more deeply let him dig his foundation.”

In
following Christ our Savior, we are to imitate not so much his power and his
glory, but rather his meekness and humility. But how to be humble? Indeed, it
is much easier to be humble in word than humble of heart. In this regard, we
turn to the writings of St. Benedict of Nursia who, in the seventh chapter of
his Rule, establishes the twelve degrees of humility. Finally, we will reproduce St. Thomas Aquinas' defense of the twelve degrees, recalling that the Angelic
Doctor himself learned humility through his schooling under the Holy Rule as a boy.

[what follows is taken entirely from the Rule of St. Benedict and from the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, respectively]

From the Holy Rule of St.
Benedict, chapter VII. On Humility

The
first degree of humility, then, is that a person keep the fear of God before
his eyes and beware of ever forgetting it. Let him be ever mindful of all that
God has commanded; let his thoughts constantly recur to the hell-fire which
will burn for their sins those who despise God, and to the life everlasting which
is prepared for those who fear him. […] Let a man consider that God is always
look at him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine
eyes and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels.

The
second degree of humility is that a person love not his own will nor take
pleasure in satisfying his desires, but model his actions on the saying of the
Lord, I have come not to do my own will,
but the will of him who sent me.

The
third degree of humility is that a person for love of God submit himself to his
Superior in all obedience, imitating the Lord, of whom the Apostle says, He became obedient even unto death.

The
fourth degree of humility is that he hold fast to patience with a silent mind
when in this obedience he meets with difficulties and contradictions and even
any kind of injustice, enduring all without growing weary or running away.

The
fifth degree of humility is that he hid from his Abbot none of the evil
thoughts that enter his heart or the sins committed in secret, but that he
humbly confess them.

The
sixth degree of humility is that a monk be content with the poorest and worst
of everything, and that in every occupation assigned him, he consider himself a
bad and worthless workman.

The
seventh degree of humility is that he consider himself lower and of less
account than anyone else, and this not only in verbal protestation but also
with the most heartfelt inner conviction.

The
eighth degree of humility is that a monk do nothing except what is commended by
the common Rule of the monastery and the example of the elders.

The
ninth degree of humility is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence,
not speaking until he is questioned.

The
tenth degree of humility is that he be not ready and quick to laugh.

The
eleventh degree of humility is that when a monk speaks he do so gently and
without laughter, humbly and seriously, in few and sensible words, and the he
be not noisy in his speech.

The
twelfth degree of humility is that a monk not only have humility in his heart
but also by his very appearance make it always manifest to those who see him.
That is to say that whether he is at the Work of God, in the oratory, in the
monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the fields or anywhere else, and
whether sitting, walking or standing, he should always have his head bowed and
his eyes toward the ground.

Having
climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will presently come to
that perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those precepts which
formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now begin to keep by reason
of that love, without any effort, as though naturally and by habit. No longer
will his motive be the fear of hell, but rather the love of Christ, good habit
and delight in the virtues which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy
Spirit in his servant now cleansed from vice and sin.

As
stated above (Article 2) humility has essentially to do with the appetite, in
so far as a man restrains the impetuosity of his soul, from tending
inordinately to great things: yet its rule is in the cognitive faculty, in that
we should not deem ourselves to be above what we are. Also, the principle and
origin of both these things is the reverence we bear to God. Now the inward
disposition of humility leads to certain outward signs in words, deeds, and
gestures, which manifest that which is hidden within, as happens also with the
other virtues. For a man is known by his
look, and a wise man, when thou meetest him, by his countenance (Sirach
19:26). Wherefore the aforesaid degrees of humility include something regarding
the root of humility, namely the twelfth
degree, "that a man fear God and bear all His commandments in
mind."

Again,
they include certain things with regard to the appetite, lest one aim
inordinately at one's own excellence. This is done in three ways. First, by not
following one's own will, and this pertains to the eleventh degree; secondly, by regulating it according to one's
superior judgment, and this applies to the
tenth degree; thirdly, by not being deterred from this on account of the
difficulties and hardships that come in our way, and this belongs to the ninth degree.

Certain
things also are included referring to the estimate a man forms in acknowledging
his own deficiency, and this in three ways. First by acknowledging and avowing
his own shortcomings; this belongs to the
eighth degree: secondly, by deeming oneself incapable of great things, and
this pertains to the seventh degree:
thirdly, that in this respect one should put others before oneself, and this
belongs to the sixth degree.

Again,
some things are included that refer to outward signs. One of these regards
deeds, namely that in one's work one should not depart from the ordinary way;
this applies to the fifth degree.
Two others have reference to words, namely that one should not be in a hurry to
speak, which pertains to the fourth
degree, and that one be not immoderate in speech, which refers to the second. The others have to do with
outward gestures, for instance in restraining haughty looks, which regards the first, and in outwardly checking
laughter and other signs of senseless mirth, and this belongs to the third degree.

It should be of note that St. Thomas' citations are in the opposite order, so when he cites the twelfth degree he is referring to the first degree, the eleventh the second, etc. According to this (fantastic) article anyway.

Carter Lowman,Yes! You are correct ... when I posted St. Thomas' article, I failed to include the citation (in the Benz. Bro. edition) of the fact that the degrees are in reverse order in the Summa.Thanks for pointing that out more explicitly!

As someone said "the way to humility is paved with humiliations". God loves those who take humiliations as part of the human condition, and who don't try to fight it when they are humiliated. They gravitate toward the lowliest of others, and do not try to glorify themselves. However, they know who they are, and so to tell the truth about themselves is not wrong. Humility make us aware of the vast grandeur of God. We can only understand it a little at a time, because we are so limited. The humble accept humiliation because all that comes from his brothers comes from God in a way, especially if the result is to make the humble truly humble.

Am I the only one who struggles with the part about mirth and laughter? We have a reasonably large family, and there's a lot of both most times. There's the usual kid silliness, but also the effort not to take ourselves too seriously, which is the cause of much good cheer. I think the kids are far more drawn to the love of God in this way than by uber-seriousness, thus I struggle as an Oblate in how to mix a joy-filled home with Benedict's admonitions about laughter.

gsk,Many of the 13th century Benedictine's questioned St. Dominic and his followers for being too given to laughter.In this regard, I think we can see that there is room for diversity within the Church.

Laughter and mirth in true joy over God's grace, mixed with tear and sorrow in true contrition for sin.

Certainly, St. Albert the Great was a man filled with good cheer!St. Thomas Aquinas, on the other hand, seems to have been a bit more serious.

Children are certainly a great help in learning to delight in the goodness of creation -- since they delight in the simple goods.